The couple heard her and immediately turned around. When Melody Summers saw their faces, she let out a soft, cold sneer. It was, just as she’d suspected, her ex-boyfriend, Austin Hale.

Austin Hale was Melody Summers’s classmate in college. He’d been captivated by her beauty, falling for her at first sight and actively pursuing her.

At the time, Melody Summers had just started college and still held romantic illusions about love. After Austin Hale pursued her for a while, the two began dating.

When they first started dating, Austin Hale was incredibly thoughtful and attentive to Melody Summers. He would bring milk for her when she didn’t have time for breakfast and deliver an umbrella when she was stuck in a lecture hall on a rainy day.

Melody Summers was good to Austin Hale in return. She worked part-time jobs to save up money to buy him gifts and would help him revise his course projects.

That all changed after the summer break of their sophomore year, when Austin Hale went with Melody Summers to Mount Anworth.

Austin Hale saw Melody Summers’s family home in the countryside—a dilapidated old house. He didn’t say anything at the time, but after they returned to school, his attitude toward her grew cold and distant.

Less than a week later, Melody Summers witnessed Austin Hale hugging and kissing Joanne White, a student a year below them.

Unlike Melody Summers, Joanne White was an only child from the city.

Melody Summers had no intention of getting entangled with them and decisively broke up with Austin Hale.

Despite being the one who cheated, Austin Hale never apologized to Melody Summers. Instead, he accused her of not being as gentle or considerate as Joanne White, blaming his infidelity on her.

As for Joanne White, who knows what was going through her head, but she actually wrote a tear-filled post for the school’s confession page, accusing Melody Summers of being the third party. She even paid off several marketing accounts to hype up the story and lead netizens to cyberbully Melody.

Although classmates who knew Melody Summers well trusted her, and those who knew the truth condemned Austin Hale, many students and netizens who were unaware of the facts chose to believe Joanne White. During that time, Melody often saw people pointing and whispering about her.

...

Austin Hale and Joanne White were both stunned to see Melody Summers.

"Sum-Summers? You live here?" Joanne White asked in astonishment.

"Melody, you said you have an apartment here? How is that possible? Isn’t your family from the countryside?" Austin Hale also seemed dazed.

Melody Summers gave a slight smile. "I am, but I also own a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment here, paid in full. If you want to buy it, it’s four million, full payment. The offer won’t last."

"Summers, four million is too expensive." Joanne White bit her lower lip. "Are you still angry with me and Austin? I was just too young and naive back then. Please don’t hold it against me."

"Cut the act. I don’t have time to exchange pleasantries," Melody Summers cut Joanne off, saying, "You’ve seen the apartments around here before, so you know the prices. Mine is fully renovated, with over 140 square meters of usable floor space. This price is absolutely reasonable."

"I’m only giving you one day to consider it. Decide for yourselves if you’re buying or not. If you can’t make up your minds by tomorrow, I’m selling it to someone else."

With that, Melody Summers turned and walked away.

Melody Summers wasn’t pinning all her hopes on Austin Hale and Joanne White. She planned to give them one day. It would be great if she could trick them into buying, but if not, she would have to wrong someone else.

Even if she really didn’t want to screw over anyone else, she had no choice. The shelter she had her eye on was a villa.

It wasn’t that she was greedy. Initially, she planned to save money and buy a unit in an apartment building, but the space was limited, and the load-bearing capacity was even more so. There was no way to stockpile enough supplies for her whole family.

If she kept all the supplies in the Arcadian Space, her family would inevitably become suspicious. Melody Summers wasn’t ready to tell them about the space yet. It was too unbelievable, and she was afraid of causing them trouble. The fewer people who knew, the safer it would be.

Besides, after the gale-force winds would come a prolonged, intense heatwave. Electricity consumption would skyrocket, making power a scarce commodity in residential areas. If Melody Summers’s family installed a generator to run an air conditioner in an apartment building, with all the neighbors watching, it would be far too conspicuous and create unnecessary risks.

The six million plus she had on hand definitely wasn’t enough. After a moment’s thought, she blocked all her other classmates except for Austin Hale and Joanne White and posted a social media update: "Fully renovated apartment for sale in a prime school district, XX Community. 4 million, full payment only. Contact me if interested."

Hopefully, this would spur Austin Hale and Joanne White to make a decision quickly.

After posting the update, Melody Summers took the seeds and entered the space.

She had brought all her family’s farming tools with her when she moved. She tilled a few plots of land in the Arcadian Fields, tore open several seed packets, and sowed them: sugarcane, cabbage, green beans, cucumbers, chili peppers...

[First sowing successful. The Arcadian Space has unlocked "The Arcadian Workshop," "The Arcadian Ranch," and "The Arcadian Woods" for you.]

Some of the white mist before her dissipated, revealing a massive factory next to the original storage warehouse. Inside were all sorts of brand-new machinery.

Next to the factory was a huge ranch, divided into large, clean, and tidy enclosures. Each one was equipped with neat water and feeding troughs, as well as a cleaning system specifically for waste disposal.

On the other side of the stream, a forest had appeared. The grass and trees were lush, wildflowers bloomed beneath them, and the faint, crisp chirping of birds could be heard.

["The Arcadian Workshop" can process crops into animal feed. It can also process wheat and rice into flour, sugarcane into sugar, wood into cardboard boxes, cotton into clothing, and so on.]

["The Arcadian Ranch" can be used to raise all kinds of animals.]

["The Arcadian Woods" can produce lumber. You can also transplant trees from the outside world into the space.]

’A forest? A ranch?’ Melody Summers was taken aback. ’Looks like I’ll have to go out and buy animals and fruit trees tomorrow.’

Melody Summers observed the newly unlocked areas for a while before leaving the space. She returned to find several new messages on her phone.

Melody Summers opened them and saw that the sender was, surprisingly, her former adoptive father, Adam Lawson.

Melody Summers frowned. ’What is it with today? Why are all these disgusting people showing up in a group?’

*

The year Melody Summers was found on the roadside and brought home by Winnie Summers was the first year of Winnie’s marriage to Adam Lawson.

Winnie Summers insisted on adopting Melody, but Adam Lawson’s parents were strongly against it. However, at the time, the Lawson family relied entirely on Winnie’s income to support them. The one who earns the money has the most say, so Melody was allowed to stay.

For as long as Melody Summers could remember, Adam Lawson’s parents—her grandparents in name only—frequently berated her, calling her a jinx. They claimed it was because Winnie Summers had brought her home that Winnie was unable to conceive a child.

When Melody Summers was seven, her adoptive father, Adam Lawson, had an affair with a young woman from the same village, Noelle Quillan. A few years later, after Noelle gave birth to a son, Adam brought her, along with their older daughter and younger son, to Winnie Summers’s doorstep for a showdown.

After the initial grief, Winnie Summers decisively filed for divorce, took Melody back to her own family’s home, and began to focus on her career.

*

Melody Summers frowned and tapped open Adam Lawson’s message.

"Melody, it’s Dad. Why are you selling that apartment?"

"Your younger brother, Joel, is planning to get married in a few years. Could you sell the apartment to him for his wedding?"

"Dad will give you 600,000, and you can consider the remaining 3.4 million as a contribution from you, his older sister, to help him out."

"Melody, think about it. Your mother hasn’t remarried or had any other children all these years. Joel is the only brother you have, which means he’s your only family to fall back on. With a brother to support you, you won’t be bullied by your in-laws when you get married."